Erez Tzfadia, a public policy expert from southern Israel's Sapir Academic College who has researched Shas extensively, said the rare rebellion marks a watershed moment for Shas.

He said the party has morphed from its initial mission of providing welfare for the lower class to becoming a right-wing party with an extreme religious doctrine.

"Shas failed in immersing its constituency because it couldn't improve their status ... the project failed and the gaps continued to grow," he said. "Instead, they now focus on Judaism and on hating the 'other' as a way of belonging. The name of the game is belonging."

"No. That's over. I am no one's emissary. I am completely independent. This is an exit to freedom.

Until now, the rabbis could tell me, 'Do this, or do that.' I think this is a kind of maturity the public in Israel needs. Rabbis should engage in Torah and legal rulings and yeshiva heads should teach Torah.

I will consult with rabbis, but with all due respect, I am not interested in having one set of rabbis or anther impose things at the level of a Council of Sages or Greats. With the councils, when rabbis are fed by politicos - only bad things come of it. Rabbis should be obeyed but this whole style, which is a copy of the Ashkenazi style, just doesn't look right to me."

Key to Amsalem’s approach, and perhaps what is most problematic to his party’s line, is his call on those who aren’t destined to be great Torah scholars and who have families to work, and not live on “shameful” allotments.

"I think you need to join the army," I said. "I think you need to get help in order to integrate into the job market, and I think your children should study math and English. I also think that if, instead of doing this, you wish to study at the yeshiva, there is no reason for me to pay your salary.

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the most respected halachic authority in the Ashkenazi haredi world, spoke out in the most harsh terms against the possibility that three haredi educational institutions defrauded the state of dozens of millions of shekels.

“If the story turns out to be true, the thieves should be considered pursuers (din rodef),” the most respected halachic authority within the Ashkenazi haredi world was quoted as saying Sunday night, explaining that their alleged deeds were unacceptable and would cause irreversible damage to haredim everywhere.

The police began to covertly monitor the illegal activity a few months ago, when members of the Neturei Karta sect found out their names were being used to receive stipends from the State, and informed law enforcement officials.

"The organizations we raided worked as factories through and through, systematically producing fake IDs, some for students not studying at yeshivas and some for people who do not exist," said Chief-Superintendant Haim Shmueli, who headed the raid.

Police suspect that the Masmidim forged ID cards of Eda Haredit members whose education was not funded by the government. Police said the operation was an effort to inflate the amount of state funding the Masmidim received.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman on Monday received threat letters containing a suspicious powder. The police checked the powder and ordered the two not to enter their offices.

Similar envelopes with curses and white powder were received Sunday by two United Torah Judaism Knesset members.

Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday handed down a sentence of imprisonment to four followers of "abusive rabbi" Elior Chen, who was found guilty of child abuse.

One of the Hasidim, David Kugman, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars, while Avraham Maskalchi and Shimon Gabai were given 17 years. Roi Tzoref, whose role in the affair was relatively small, was sentenced to two and a half years.

The child abuse affair was uncovered two years ago, when a child Chen had been treating was taken to the hospital unconscious. Once the story became public, Chen fled to Brazil, which extradited him back to Israel. He is now on trial at the Jerusalem District Court.

Something is happening to our woman of valor. She is no longer satisfied with sewing and selling sheets or with making belts for Canaanites. Even compliments from her husband, sitting with the elders, do not lift her spirits anymore.

...Dr. Fried summarizes:

"We must remember that the ultra-Orthodox society isn't a herd of animals locked behind a gate. The have very similar problems to those of the secular society. Emotionally, we are all human beings and we all want to feel good about our bodies."

While Rachel’s story is indicative of many women in physically abusive relationships, what sets her apart from the majority of victims seeking help is that she was raised in a religious family, and the shelter where she sought refuge three months ago is Bat Melech, the only battered women’s shelter in the country for Orthodox and haredi women and their children.

A piece of luggage containing an M-16 assault rifle and pistols was discovered in the parking lot of a residential building in Ganei Geula, a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem, according to reports in the online haredi media.

Renting out apartments to Arabs has been forbidden by Safed's rabbis, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has also pointed out that it is forbidden, and many other rabbis remain sheepishly silent on grounds of political correctness and admit that "there is nothing to be done, this is halachic law".

One person who disagrees with these rabbis is the head of the Petah Tikva hesder yeshiva, Rabbi Yuval Sherlo, who states that "it is right and correct prefer renting out apartments within our own nation, but it is not right to ban renting out apartments to Arabs."

Bnei Brak city hall launched a public campaign against renting flats to migrant workers and refugees two weeks ago, but it appears the municipality actually employs migrants, Haaretz has found. The city employs 10 foreign workers in its sanitary department through the subcontractor Ford Municipal Systems.

Two weeks after the government’s decision to bring the nearly 8,000 remaining Falash Mura to Israel, government ministries warned Wednesday that they did not have sufficient funds to address the needs of the anticipated wave of immigrants.

During a hearing of the Knesset’s Immigration and Absorption Committee, representatives of the Welfare and Social Services, Education and Immigrant Absorption ministries all demanded additional funding and complained that the Prime Minister’s Office had refused any budgetary amendments.

A Bnei Brak resident barred a 13 year old Ethiopian teen from going into the mikveh recenty, claiming the boy was a "stinking kushi" (a derogatory Hebrew term for black people). He then hit the boy, his brother and his aunt.

I guess the point is that this annual food event is not to bash Israel, but to highlight what I have been preaching, that not everything in Israel is kosher, yet alone mehadrin. The free samples in Machane Yehuda and Malcha Mall have no more of a hechsher at times that the food at this event!